Marcos Special

The word unity has new meaning to the Mesquite High School Marching Band. Yes, we were of course unified in wanting the Fiesta Bowl Nomination but it goes beyond that. We were unified in feeling, in emotion. After our performance earlier in the day at the Marcos de Niza Invitational a new degree of determination came over the band. We wanted to capitalize on our Superior rating and 3 captions we had gotten earlier in the day. I had seen nothing like it. Literally the entire band wanted the Fiesta Bowl Nomination as bad as the next guy.

The trumpet line was united like never before. Our immature squabbling was replaced with hearty words of good luck and how we were going to kick some ass like no one had ever seen or heard. We were hyped like never before. Nothing would stop us in our campaign for the nomination. As we stepped on the field you could feel the power and determination of the band. It was unreal. Our performance this time blew the afternoon's performance right out of the water. When we were done the crowd rose to its feet. We were the only band to get a full standing ovation that night. Walking off the field we were so excited, not the usual I'm tired I wanna go home kinda thing, but just plain excited. It was our best performance ever. We poured our heard and soul into it and the crowd new it. The band cheered as we walked further off the field. Some were in tears because of the joy, others because of the pain of trying their hardest.

We were full of pride and high hopes for the nomination as we headed back to the stadium to see if we had received the honor of the Fiesta Bowl Nomination. Finally, it was time. The announcer told someone to write the name of the winning band on a large check worth $2,000. We saw an "M" and went insane. Then, only to be disillusioned when the announcer said "Mountain Ridge." There were looks of disbelief throughout the band and then we started to cry. So much hope had been dashed in that split second. We couldn't believe it. But then we started to accept it and move on. We knew it was our best performance ever and no judge could take that away from us. This setback had actually made us stronger, more unified then ever before. We were determined to blow away the competition at the upcoming Gilbert Invitational. If that meant embarassing Highland and Gilbert 's marching bands in the process then so be it. The Game is ON!